Having some porridge to spare, I put it aside for future reference, to obviate all temptation to indulge in “stew”. Having strapped the lid on my mess tin, I promptly forgot its plenitude, and hung it above my bunk. Porridge-juice mingled with melted sugar has been dripping over my belongings.
Out exercising horses this afternoon. On return had a gallop, and my “lead” broke away and got lost. Eventually found him in another battery’s stables with a guilty look on his face.
9 p.m. – I find it hard to define my impressions of “Jenufa”. I know not who is or was Janacek, its composer.* Most of the khaki audience were frankly bored, and left early with much clatter. The first act found me much of their persuasion. In the second, the tragedy gathered, the music began to get a hold on me. To my mind it succeeds in its revelation of sorrow, anguish, remorse, and, towards the end of the last act, of grateful devotion and forgiveness.
The first scene, a mill on a sunny slope, with poplars and the millwheel revolving in the background, remains in my memory.
* It was not until 20 years afterwards that I learnt per The Oxford Companion to Music all about him.
Walk March 